Indonesia secures one title in Thamrin Cup

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia has secured one title at the Thamrin Cup international junior tennis tournament here, as two Indonesian girls' doubles will battle it out in the final on Sunday.

The host country also booked two tickets for the finals of the girls' singles and boys' doubles, but lost the boys' singles semifinal match.

In the girls' doubles final, top seeds Maya Rosa/Denise Harijanto -- who beat Chen Lu-Ling/Wang Wen Lin of Chinese Taipei 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals -- will meet compatriots Lavinia Tananta/Golda Rubina -- who defeated another Indonesian pair Dian Mayasari/Patricia Soesilo 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.

In the girls' singles final, Indonesian unseeded Mia Sacca, who is coached by former tennis star Yayuk Basuki, will challenge another unseeded player, Chen Cu-Ling.

In the semifinals, Mia sent home Malaysian sixth seed Tinusa Sivaganam in a rubber set 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, while Chen thrashed Kim Ju-hyoung of Korea 7-5, 6-2.

Mia said she was pleased with her performance.

"In the first set, I was still trying to learn how Sivaganam plays, so I lost 6-4," Mia said.

"In the second set, I thought I had nothing to lose so I decided to attack in front of the net, which worked very well as I won 6-2."

In the final set, however, Mia's tactics failed her. Both players managed to break each other's serves until the score leveled at 4-4.

But as Sivaganam began to tire, Mia was able to make another break to make the score 5-4.

With a serve up her sleeve, Mia looked nervous to finish the game, giving Siva the chance to force a deuce 40-40.

However, Mia seemingly realized that she should again attack in front of the net to win points, and with two decisive volleys, Mia ended the match in style.

"Well, in the third set, I could not attack Sivaganam, but, thank God, finally I won," she said.

"The final poses a tough challenge as my opponent played better than I did. However, I will do my best to win," she said.

The boys' doubles final will feature second seed Indonesian Elbert Sie and Australian Stefan Rosani against unseeded Huang Chu Hsuan/Lee Tung Han of Chinese Taipei.

In the semifinals, Elbert/Rosani defeated another Chinese Taipei double of Chang Chien Ting Lung/Hsu Yi Chi 1-6, 6-3,6-4, while Huang/Lee beat sixth seed Arnav Jain/Tajevsi Rao of India 6-2, 6-0.

However, the favorite of the tournament, Elbert Sie, who is also number one seed, failed to beat fourth seed Ryo Sekiguchi of Japan in the semifinals. Elbert lost 7-5, 6-7(5-7), 6-4.

"Both of us played well. I would have won, but I threw away a chance to break Sekiguchi's serve when I led 4-3 (40-15) in the third set," Elbert said.

He added that Sekiguchi was able to gain a number of points as his Japanese opponent played aggressively in front of the net, instead of from the baseline.

Such a tactic emulated Elbert's previous opponent Sho Aida of Japan in the quarterfinals, but Elbert was able to play intelligently to conquer Aida.

Elbert's failure in the semifinals was mirrored by Japanese second seed Kento Takeuchi, who lost against unseeded Australian Nick Lindahl 6-2, 6-2.